Events Pre-1600 361 – Emperor Constantius II dies of a fever at Mopsuestia in Cilicia; on his deathbed he is baptised and declares his cousin Julian rightful successor. 1090 – The Rouen Riot, an attempt by English king William Rufus to take possession of Rouen, the capital city of his brother Robert, duke of Normandy, fails. 1333 – The River Arno floods causing massive damage in Florence as recorded by the Florentine chronicler Giovanni Villani. 1468 – Liège is sacked by the troops of Duke Charles the Bold of Burgundy. 1492 – Peace of Etaples between Henry VII of England and Charles VIII of France. 1493 – Christopher Columbus first sights the island of Dominica in the Caribbean Sea. 1534 – English Parliament passes the first Act of Supremacy, making King Henry VIII head of the Anglican Church, supplanting the pope and the Roman Catholic Church.
1601–1900 1783 – The American Continental Army is disbanded. 1791 – The University of Vermont, the oldest university in Vermont, and fifth-oldest in New England, is chartered. 1793 – French playwright, journalist and feminist Olympe de Gouges is guillotined. 1812 – Napoleon's armies are defeated at the Battle of Vyazma. 1817 – The Bank of Montreal, Canada's oldest chartered bank, opens in Montreal. 1838 – The Times of India, the world's largest circulated English language daily broadsheet newspaper is founded as The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce. 1848 – A greatly revised Dutch constitution, which transfers much authority from the king to his parliament and ministers, is proclaimed. 1867 – Giuseppe Garibaldi and his followers are defeated in the Battle of Mentana and fail to end the Pope's Temporal power in Rome (it would be achieved three years later). 1868 – John Willis Menard (R-LA) becomes the first African American elected to the United States Congress. Because of an electoral challenge, he is never seated. 1881 – The Mapuche uprising of 1881 begins in Chile. 1898 – France withdraws its troops from Fashoda (now in Sudan), ending the Fashoda Incident.
1901–present 1903 – With the encouragement of the United States, Panama separates from Colombia. 1908 – William Howard Taft is elected the 27th President of the United States. 1911 – Chevrolet officially enters the automobile market in competition with the Ford Model T. 1918 – The German Revolution of 1918–19 begins when 40,000 sailors take over the port in Kiel. 1920 – Russian Civil War: The Russian Army retreats to Crimea, after a successful offensive by the Red Army and Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine. 1929 – The Gwangju Student Independence Movement occurred. 1930 – Getúlio Vargas becomes Head of the Provisional Government in Brazil after a bloodless coup on October 24. 1932 – Panagis Tsaldaris becomes the 142nd Prime Minister of Greece. 1935 – George II of Greece regains his throne through a popular, though possibly fixed, plebiscite. 1936 – Franklin D. Roosevelt is reelected as President of the United States. 1942 – World War II: The Koli Point action begins during the Guadalcanal campaign and ends on November 12. 1943 – World War II: Five hundred aircraft of the U.S. 8th Air Force devastate Wilhelmshaven harbor in Germany. 1944 – World War II: Two supreme commanders of the Slovak National Uprising, Generals Ján Golian and Rudolf Viest, are captured, tortured and later executed by German forces. 1946 – The Constitution of Japan is adopted through Emperor's assent. 1949 – Chinese Civil War: The Battle of Dengbu Island occurs. 1950 – Air India Flight 245 crashes into Mont Blanc while on approach to Geneva Airport, killing all 48 people on board. 1956 – Suez Crisis: The Khan Yunis killings by the Israel Defense Forces in Egyptian-controlled Gaza result in the deaths of 275 Palestinians. 1956 – Hungarian Revolution: A new Hungarian government is formed, in which many members of banned non-Communist parties participate. János Kádár and Ferenc Münnich form a counter-government in Moscow as Soviet troops prepare for the final assault. 1957 – Sputnik program: The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 2. On board is the first animal to enter orbit, a dog named Laika. 1960 – The land that would become the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge is established by an Act of Congress after a year-long legal battle that pitted local residents against Port Authority of New York and New Jersey officials wishing to turn the Great Swamp into a major regional airport for jet aircraft. 1961 – U Thant is unanimously appointed as the 3rd Secretary-General of the United Nations, becoming the first non-European individual to occupy the post. 1964 – Lyndon B. Johnson is elected to a full term as U.S. president, winning 61% of the vote and 44 states, while Washington D.C. residents are able to vote in a presidential election for the first time, casting the majority of their votes for Lyndon Johnson. 1967 – Vietnam War: The Battle of Dak To begins. 1969 – Vietnam War: U.S. President Richard M. Nixon addresses the nation on television and radio, asking the "silent majority" to join him in solidarity on the Vietnam War effort and to support his policies. 1973 – Mariner program: NASA launches the Mariner 10 toward Mercury. On March 29, 1974, it becomes the first space probe to reach that planet. 1975 – Four Bangladeshi politicians are killed in the Dhaka Central Jail. 1976 – Carrie, an American supernatural horror film directed by Brian De Palma, is premiered in 17 theaters in the Washington, D.C.-Baltimore area. 1978 – Dominica gains its independence from the United Kingdom. 1979 – Greensboro massacre: Five members of the Communist Workers Party are shot dead and seven are wounded by a group of Klansmen and neo-Nazis during a "Death to the Klan" rally in Greensboro, North Carolina, United States. 1980 – A Latin Carga Convair CV-880 crashes at Simón Bolívar International Airport in Venezuela, killing four. 1982 – The Salang Tunnel fire in Afghanistan kills 150–2000 people. 1986 – Iran–Contra affair: The Lebanese magazine Ash-Shiraa reports that the United States has been secretly selling weapons to Iran in order to secure the release of seven American hostages held by pro-Iranian groups in Lebanon. 1986 – The Compact of Free Association becomes law, granting the Federated States of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands independence from the United States. 1988 – Sri Lankan Tamil mercenaries attempt to overthrow the Maldivian government. At President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom's request, the Indian military suppresses the rebellion within 24 hours. 1992 – Democratic Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton defeats Republican President George H. W. Bush and Independent candidate Ross Perot in the 1992 United States presidential election. 1994 – Space Shuttle program: Atlantis launches on STS-66. 1996 – Abdullah Çatlı, the leader of the Turkish ultranationalist organization Grey Wolves, dies in the Susurluk car crash, leading to the resignation of Interior Minister Mehmet Ağar (a leader of the True Path Party). 1997 – The United States imposes economic sanctions against Sudan in response to its human rights abuses of its own citizens and its material and political assistance to Islamic extremist groups across the Middle East and East Africa. 2014 – One World Trade Center officially opens in New York City, replacing the Twin Towers after they were destroyed during the September 11 attacks. 2020 – The 2020 United States presidential election takes place between Democratic Joe Biden and Republican incumbent President Donald Trump. On November 7, Biden was declared the winner.
Births Pre-1600 AD 39 – Lucan, Roman poet (died 65) 1500 – Benvenuto Cellini, Italian sculptor and painter (died 1571) 1505 – Achilles Gasser, German physician and astrologer (died 1577) 1527 – Tilemann Heshusius, Gnesio-Lutheran theologian (died 1588) 1560 – Annibale Carracci, Italian painter and illustrator (died 1609) 1587 – Samuel Scheidt, German organist, composer, and educator (died 1654)
1601–1900 1604 – Osman II, Ottoman sultan (died 1622) 1618 – Aurangzeb, Mughal emperor of India (died 1707) 1656 – Georg Reutter, Austrian organist and composer (died 1738) 1659 – Hui-bin Jang, Royal consort (died 1701) 1689 – Jan Josef Ignác Brentner, Czech composer (died 1742) 1749 – Daniel Rutherford, Scottish chemist and physician (died 1819) 1757 – Robert Smith, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 6th United States Secretary of State (died 1842) 1777 – Princess Sophia of the United Kingdom (died 1848) 1793 – Stephen F. Austin, American businessman and politician (died 1836) 1794 – William Cullen Bryant, American poet and journalist (died 1878) 1799 – William Sprague III, American lawyer and politician, 14th governor of Rhode Island (died 1856) 1801 – Karl Baedeker, German author and publisher, founded the Baedeker Publishing Company (died 1859) 1801 – Vincenzo Bellini, Italian composer (died 1835) 1815 – John Mitchel, Irish journalist and activist (died 1875) 1816 – Jubal Early, American general and lawyer (died 1894) 1816 – Calvin Fairbank, American minister and activist (died 1898) 1845 – Edward Douglass White, American lawyer, jurist, and politician, 9th Chief Justice of the United States (died 1921) 1852 – Emperor Meiji of Japan (died 1912) 1854 – Carlo Fornasini, Italian micropalaeontologist (died 1931) 1856 – Jim McCormick, Scottish-American baseball player and manager (died 1918) 1857 – Mikhail Alekseyev, Russian general (died 1918) 1862 – Henry George Jr., American journalist and politician (died 1916) 1863 – Alfred Perot, French physicist and academic (died 1925) 1866 – Harry Staley, American baseball player (died 1910) 1871 – Albert Goldthorpe, English rugby player and manager (died 1943) 1875 – Emīls Dārziņš, Latvian composer and conductor (died 1910) 1876 – Stephen Alencastre, American bishop and missionary (died 1940) 1877 – Carlos Ibáñez del Campo, Chilean general and politician, 20th President of Chile (died 1960) 1877 – Rosalie Edge, American environmentalist (died 1962) 1878 – Bangalore Nagarathnamma, Indian Carnatic singer and activist (died 1952) 1882 – Yakub Kolas, Belarusian writer (died 1956) 1884 – Joseph William Martin Jr., American publisher and politician, 49th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (died 1968) 1887 – Samuil Marshak, Russian author and poet (died 1964) 1887 – Eileen Hendriks, British geologist (died 1978) 1890 – Harry Stephen Keeler, American author (died 1967) 1890 – Eustáquio van Lieshout, Dutch-Brazilian priest and missionary (died 1943) 1894 – William George Barker, Canadian pilot and colonel, Victoria Cross recipient (died 1930) 1894 – Sofoklis Venizelos, Greek captain and politician, 133rd Prime Minister of Greece (died 1964) 1896 – Gustaf Tenggren, Swedish-American illustrator and animator (died 1970) 1899 – Ralph Greenleaf, American billiards player (died 1950) 1899 – Rezső Seress, Hungarian pianist and composer (died 1968) 1899 – Gleb Wataghin, Ukrainian-Italian physicist and academic (died 1986) 1900 – Adolf Dassler, German businessman, founded Adidas (died 1978)
1901–present 1901 – Leopold III of Belgium (died 1983) 1901 – André Malraux, French historian, theorist, and author (died 1976) 1901 – Lionel Hitchman, Canadian ice hockey player (died 1969) 1903 – Walker Evans, American photographer and journalist (died 1975) 1905 – Lois Mailou Jones, American painter and academic (died 1998) 1908 – Giovanni Leone, Italian lawyer and politician, 6th President of Italy (died 2001) 1909 – James Reston, Scottish-American journalist and author (died 1995) 1910 – Karel Zeman, Czech director, animator, production designer, and screenwriter (died 1989) 1911 – Kick Smit, Dutch footballer and manager (died 1974) 1912 – Alfredo Stroessner, Paraguayan general and politician, 46th President of Paraguay (died 2006) 1915 – Hal Jackson, American journalist and radio host (died 2012) 1917 – Annapurna Maharana, Indian activist (died 2012)